Chapter 81 First Day Box Office
Liu Wei and Zhao Ran are both fans of Liu Zhou's books. The two strangers met at Liu Zhou's first book signing event in Beijing and gradually became friends.

Two years ago they were sophomores in high school, and this year they are freshmen.

Since they were both attending university in Beijing, they would play together when they had time and would argue about the stories in Liu Zhou's book, but their relationship became even closer.

Today is Valentine's Day, and the two single people met at a movie theater in Chaoyang.

But when they arrived at the cinema, they were dumbfounded.

I thought I had arrived early enough, but I didn't expect there would still be a long queue at the ticket office, and they were all in pairs.

"I didn't expect so many people would come to see Liu Zhou's movie." Liu Wei said with a bitter face.

"Of course. His books are so popular, and this movie is a romantic movie. It will definitely attract book fans."

"What should we do then? Should we still queue up?"

"Of course I will. Anyway, I am looking forward to Liu Zhou's movie, My Sassy Girl. I want to watch it just by hearing the name."

At this time Liu Wei whispered:

"How about you go get in line and I'll wait for you here?"

"No!" Zhao Ran refused firmly: "Don't I have any dignity? If you are embarrassed, you should find a boyfriend as soon as possible."

"Well, I wonder if there are any tickets left for the first show."

After saying that, the two of them gritted their teeth and walked towards the team.

Such scenes were staged in many cities in the mainland. On Valentine's Day, major cinemas were almost occupied by young men and women.

Among them are many loyal fans of Liu Zhou’s books, fans of Zhang Guorong, couples who just wanted to go to the movies together on this special day, and of course there are also a small number of fans of Zeng Li.

Although Valentine's Day at that time was not as grand as it is in later generations, this Western holiday was still quite important among college students.

It just so happened that there was only one love movie available at that time, "My Sassy Girl", so almost all the young people who went to the cinema chose to watch this movie.

This has resulted in a situation where tickets for My Sassy Girl are hard to come by.

Faced with this situation, cinemas that had copies chose to increase the number of screenings, while cinemas that did not have copies reported to their superiors and asked for copies.

But in the afternoon, the videotape of "My Sassy Girl" appeared on the market.

Some people who cannot buy tickets will choose to buy the discs when they see people selling them at the entrance of the cinema. However, some of Liu Zhou's more loyal fans will not buy the discs and some may even go to the cinema in indignation to report them.

However, doing so was doomed to be of no use. They did not know the twists and turns involved, but they felt happy that they had defended Liu Zhou.

Liu Zhou knew nothing about this. He had just finished a promotional event at Peking University and the group returned to the hotel to rest and wait for box office news.

Time slowly came to the early morning, and Liu Zhou and Zeng Li had been playing mahjong with Zhang Guorong for several hours.

At this time Zhang Guorong suddenly said:
"No more playing, Zhou, I can see that you are not paying attention to mahjong at all. You have been absent-minded the whole night."

Zhang Guorong did not blame Liu Zhou. He also knew that it was Liu Zhou's first time as a director and he must be very concerned about the box office. It was normal for him to be worried about gains and losses.

He was very serious about playing mahjong, and since Liu Zhou had no mood to play, he might as well take a good rest.

Liu Zhou also knew that it was his own fault and said embarrassedly:

"Brother, I'm really not in the mood to play tonight. I'll play with you next time."

"I know, but don't forget what you said. Play with me all night next time."

"no problem!"

"Then I'm going to go and rest first. You should also rest early. As for the box office, let nature take its course. We have already done what we should do. We can only wait for the results with peace of mind."

After Zhang Guorong left, Zeng Li said, "Zhou Zhou, let's go and have some rest too. The box office statistics won't be available until tomorrow at the earliest. We won't be able to wait until tonight."

Liu Zhou took a deep breath and said:

"Come on, go and get some rest."

At this time, Liu Zhou missed the ticketing websites of later generations very much, where box office sales were updated in real time.

Although he knew it was impossible to know the first day's box office results tonight, Liu Zhou still had trouble falling asleep while lying in bed, and he didn't fall asleep until almost three o'clock.

Just as Liu Zhou was tossing and turning in bed, on the other side, in the office of a distribution department of China Film, the phone kept ringing, and the sound of people shouting and ringing was deafening.

They are the distribution staff of China Film Group and Pearl River Film Studio, and they are counting the box office in various cities overnight.

It wasn't until after three in the morning that the office became quiet.

At this time, one of them came to a small office with a document.

"Minister, these are the statistical data." After saying that, he placed the document in front of the minister's desk.

"Well, they've worked hard. Let them go back and rest early."

Upon hearing this, the staff immediately walked out of the office. It was too choking inside, filled with smoke. No one knew how much smoke had been smoked. It seemed that the minister was also anxiously waiting for the box office results.

There were two people in the small office, they were the persons in charge of the distribution of "My Sassy Girl" at China Film Group and Pearl River Film Studio.

The minister the staff member mentioned earlier was the head of the China Film Distribution Department. He smiled and said:

"Director Wang, sorry for the wait."

"Isn't that what distribution is all about? Minister Yu, please check the box office numbers."

Minister Yu opened the document and said:
"Beijing's box office was 23, which was quite a lot when I went there. Shanghai's box office was 25, and Guangzhou's box office was 28. Guangzhou's box office was actually higher than Beijing and Shanghai's."

Seeing Minister Yu's shocked expression, Director Wang smiled smugly and said:
"Liu Zhou is from Yangcheng. He is very popular in Yangcheng."

"This should be the first time that Guangzhou's box office has surpassed Beijing and Shanghai. This Liu Zhou is really something!"

"You may not have read the novel very often and don't know his status in the minds of young people. He is like an idol. Just look at the total box office."

Minister Yu turned to the end and saw the number. He was shocked again:

"The total box office on the first day was 1.26 million. Could it be another Feng Xiaogang?"

"Hahaha, this is very possible. One million and two hundred and sixty thousand. One million and two hundred and sixty thousand. Now the factory can have a good New Year."

"Look how beautiful you are. It's just after the Chinese New Year, and it's still a long way to go before the New Year."

Minister Yu also knew that Zhujiang Film Studio had invested in this film, and it was foreseeable that the film would be a box office hit. Even as a member of China Film Group, he felt a little jealous.

"How can I not feel happy? Our Zhujiang Studio has been lonely for too long. Now we finally have a movie like this. Shouldn't we be happy? I have to go first. I have to report this news to Director Xie. He should still be waiting at the hotel."

After saying that, he left the office, leaving Minister Yu alone.

Minister Yu carefully examined the document, which not only contained the first day's box office data, but also reflected requests from various places for copies.

He knew that the box office of this love movie, which he had not been very optimistic about before, might soar.

He also had to report this matter to Director Han, and he had to increase publicity, increase copies, and expand the scale of screening.

Director Han has always been looking forward to the emergence of new filmmakers like this!

(End of this chapter)